As many as 2.97 million assessees have filed the summary input-output return under the new goods and services tax (GST) for the month of August ('GSTR 3B'), much less than the 4.6 million that came for the month of July.
As many as 46 per cent of applicants, or around 1.37 million people, got registered on the last day of filing on Wednesday.
However, the July returns had swelled after an extension of five to eight days was given to assessees, depending on whether they wanted to claim input tax credit for the pre-GST stocks. The GST Network (GSTN), the entity handling the information technology backbone for the new structure, is hopeful that return filing would equal the tally of July.
Even if the same number of filers are there for the month of August as in July, proportionately it would be much less. This is because there were only 5.95 million registrations under the GST in July, excluding those opting for the composition scheme. Now, a little over nine million businesses have registered under the new tax regime. Of this, around one million was for the composition scheme; these may file quarterly returns.
Taxes to the tune of Rs 95,000 crore were collected in the maiden month of the roll-out. The Central GST and State GST laws mandate an interest levy at 18 per cent for delayed payment of tax. And, an additional charge of Rs 100 per day would be levied for late filing of returns.
Bolstered by the August number and the fact that the system did not crash despite the last-minute rush, except for stray incidents, GSTN Chairman Ajay Bhushan Pandey said this showed the system's robustness. Having taken charge earlier this month, he said the network was in a "very sound state", and the number of returns was a testimony to this. Problems or glitches that exist in specific pockets will be dealt with expeditiously, he assured.
He said the GSTN accepted up to 85,000 returns an hour on Wednesday, the last day to file a GSTR-3B for August.
Around 75 per cent of the registered businesses had not filed their returns until then. As many as 1.37 million entities flocked to the GSTN portal on Wednesday to do so, the highest in a day under the GST regime so far.
"Though our system can take the load, it is in the interest of businesses not to wait until the last moment because there could be some problem at their end or their computer might not work," Pandey said.
The GST Council had earlier this month constituted a Group of Ministers (GoM) under Bihar's deputy chief minister, Sushil Modi, to address issues faced by businesses while filing returns and paying taxes on the portal. After its first meeting last week, Modi had said 25 issues were identified and there would be a visible change on the GSTN portal in a week or so.
Pandey said the issues in question pertained to a specific situation faced by some taxpayers or was a peculiar case that might have happened in rare cases. Steps are being taken to ensure that everyone is able to file returns without difficulty, he promised.
"Any large system like the GSTN will have some issues in the initial few months and that is how the system becomes perfect. Generally, the system has been working and people are able to file returns," he said.